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Just diagnosed, saying hello

pendlehill

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi to those on the forum, from here in Lancashire. I have been diagnosed this week with type II Diabetes, my Hb A1C was 114 and my blood sugar was running around 19mmol. I know the urine dip stick nearly melted, fortunately I have had no Ketones so far. I am to start on Metformin, plus take great care with my diet. I am a retired nurse, so I am pretty well aware of the do's and don'ts. On top of that I have chronic heart disease, COPD and very painful arthritis, with limited mobility. But, you have to carry on, despite life's events. Looking forward to chatting and sharing on the forum.
 
Wow - sorry to hear that. Welcome to the forum. The simplest most useful advice I can give you is "eat to your meter". Basically that means test your blood sugar just before, an hour after and two hours after and adjust the amount or type of carbs you eat based on the results (ideally you want to keep it from going above 7.8 for very much time. If that's not working, you may need to go on more medications. Of course, with you other medical issues you'll probably be concerned about eating too much fat to make up for the lost calories from carbs, so you'll have to work on eating good fat, which I'm guessing maybe you already do. Anyway, there will liely soon be lots of other advice posted here. Feel free to ask any questions.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi and welcome!

Many on here successfully manage their BG with the low carb high fat diet (LCHF, see www.dietdoctor.com/lchf). So you can eat meat, fish, salads, above-ground vegetables, avocados, olive oil, butter etc. If you reduce carbs you lose the calories that came with them, so these need to be replaced from other food groups such as protein and fat. The ‘high fat’ bit bothers some people, but all it means is you can freely eat more fat to offset the carb calories – and you don’t feel so hungry all the time either (carbs are addictive). Avoid most ‘low fat’ products as these usually have added sugar or are man made artificial products – go for full fat milk, cream, butter, Greek yoghurt etc.

Reducing carbs (and the calories that go with them) is, together with any exercise you can manage, also a good way to lose weight. Offset the carb calories with protein and fat calories in order to get the right balance for your personal situation.

Don't forget to ask any questions you like.
 
Love that profile pic!

Welcome. Hopefully see you around the forum.

Did the surgery give you any way to test your blood glucose? (BG)
If not, a lot of us on here buy our own. As others have said, it helps us know exactly what foods are causing the high BG, and let's us monitor how we bring them down.

In the meantime, I would start making some gentle diet changes (smaller portions of bread, potato, rice and avoid sugar completely, in any form). Bringing your BG down slowly is much kinder to the body that switching to some extreme diet.

You really will start to feel the benefits very quickly!
 
Welcome Pendlehill
 
Welcome Pendlehill. I love your name ..... I also live near Pendle and can see it in all its full glory right now out of my window.

Being a retired nurse you may have been trained along the NHS lines of eat plenty of starchy carbs with each meal, low fat, no salt, limited protein etc. Some of this now needs to be cast aside and forgotten. I suggest you obtain a meter and start testing out your meals. If you test immediately before then 2 hours after you will notice a rise. Ideally this rise should be no more than 2mmol/l, preferably less. If it is higher than that, there is something in that meal that needs tweaking/avoiding/reducing portions, and that "something" will be the carb element. It is all trial and error, but using your meter and keeping a food diary with your levels recorded alongside will help you learn and sort out a diet that is suitable for you. We are all different in how we react to various foods, but generally speaking it is the carbs that need reducing. Fats will not raise your BS and proteins will only affect them minimally.

Good luck, and ask as many questions as you like.
 
I was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago. I sympathise with Pendlehill as I also have COPD, severe arthritis and some other health problems as well as t ype 2 diabetes. I have limited mobility and use a wheelchair to get around outside. Still, I have felt reasonably positive about it all. I have always been basically veggie but have gone back to being a strict vegan. This seems to be helping - my blood glucose has gone down so the nurse tells me and I have already lost a few pounds. I am a bit surprised by some of the above advice - I was told to avoid full-fat foods like butter, cheese and whole milk in favour of low-fat options. I have been told I will be getting a device to test my blood - but haven't got one so far. I'm going to an all day course soon to learn more about diabetes type 2 and what to eat etc. Exercise is a bit of a problem for me because of the mobility but I am keeping as active as I can.
 

Yes, sadly that out-dated advice to avoid fats is still being given out by most NHS staff. It takes them a long time to catch up with modern research and dietary studies.

You will find many on the forum who are no longer avoiding fat, and feel the benefit - including myself.
 
hello and welcome lovley to have you on board welcome xx
 
Thank you all so much for the welcome and the advice, yes, we were taught to measure the carb units each day for patients. I did train a fair while ago, not quite when Florence was about.
I have a BG meter, the practice nurse kindly gave me one (we have to stick together, lol) and I now have a cupboard full of lancets and test strips. I am to start metformin tomorrow, not looking forward to that as I am phobic about being or feeling sick. I have some metoclopramide, so I will take that at the same time, just 500mg a day to start with, Sister said, start gently and work our way up. I was so hungry earlier, but instead of the usual biscuits that I used to have I ate some peanuts and felt a lot better. The lowest reading of my bm is 11mmols, That was after the peanuts. it has been around 18 the rest of the week. Onwards to tomorrow. Take care.
 
Hi...this is probably the opposite to what you were taught, but have a read and pick out anything you think may help

http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf it’s a long page and a video
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbliving/a/Food-Cravings.htm For me, the more carbs we eat the more carbs we want. they don’t give up easy.
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/firstweek.htm

http://www.lowcarbdietitian.com/blog/carbohydrate-restriction-an-option-for-diabetes-management

blood testing
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php
food counting
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

Newcastle diet aims in 8+ weeks to mimic or better the rate of ~80% remission, for surgery T2
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/
http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2010/mar/weight-loss-surgery-and-type-2-diabetes.html

American diabetic association ( http://www.professional.diabetes.org/)
http://www.professional.diabetes.or...=DP&s_src=vanity&s_subsrc=nutritionguidelines

Evidence is inconclusive for an ideal amount of total fat intake for people with diabetes;
therefore, goals should be individualized; fat quality appears to be far more important
than quantity.

In people with type 2 diabetes, a Mediterranean-style, MUFA-rich eating pattern may benefit
glycemic control and CVD risk factors and can therefore be recommended as an effective
alternative to a lower-fat, higher-carbohydrate eating pattern.
 
Thanks Jack412, I will certainly take a good look at all of the above, thank you very much for the links.
 
hi welcome
 
Hi. Note that it is the non-SR (Slow Release) Metformin that gives stomach problems for many. If you do have problems after phased starting of the tablets then do go for the Slow Release version as it's much kinder; assuming you haven't been given these to start with.
 
Hi Daibell, they are the non slow release, just coated ones. I have had my first dose mid lunch, also taken maxolon to stop any feeling of sickness. I think, well, hope, that once the BG levels are coming down, I will ask for slow release. Nice to meet you.
 
Hello and a warm welcome

Please take your time to read the forum and anything else you feel you will help you ...

Nice to meet you ...chat again I hope ...Kat
 
Welcome pendlehill. The peanuts are pretty good especially if they arent salted/dry roasted. Try to raw peanut kernels. Alternative replace the peanuts with hazelnuts. They are the nut with the most monounsaturated fats (barring macadamia nuts which have a lot of saturated fats) of all (that wonderful HDL stuff). This link has a great page of the nutritional information around different nuts

http://www.hazelnutgrowersoforegon.com/nutrition.php
 
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